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West Roxbury residents vow to continue pipeline fight even after gas is turned on

Protesters against natural-gas pipeline in West Roxbury

Protesters in front of "metering and regulating" station in West Roxbury.

About 75 West Roxbury residents and supporters - including city councilors Matt O'Malley and Annissa Essaibi-George - gathered this morning outside the nearly completed natural-gas transfer station that could begin taking in fuel from a new high-pressure pipeline as early as this week.

They said they would continue to work to shut it down.

O'Malley said the city is continuing a federal court fight against the pipeline and vowed that even if the gas starts flowing this year, it will be shut down next year. He led the crowd in a chant of "We don't want it! We don't need it! Shut it down!"

Matt O'Malley at Spectra protest

O'Malley said that with an impending climate catastrophe, National Grid, which will pump the gas into its Boston distribution network, needs to begin looking at alternatives - starting with fixing the several thousand gas-main leaks he said now represent about $90 million in lost gas each year, money that consumers are forced to pay.

The pipeline, which starts in Westwood, will carry natural gas at 750 p.s.i. The average main into a house carries gas at around 0.25 p.s.i.

"They're assaulting us and we're going to fight this," West Roxbury resident William Kessler said of Spectra Energy. Kessler and other protesters said that in addition to the threat of fire or explosion in a densely populated neighborhood, the "metering and regulating" station will periodically belch gas containing a variety of harmful chemicals, right near the Kilmer School and the Deutsches Altenheim nursing home.

West Roxbury resident Paul Horn urged people to call the offices of senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey to try to convince them to wake up out of what he said was their tepid torpor on the pipeline. He said he does not understand why Warren has devoted even a fraction of the time and anger to the pipeline as she has to Wells Fargo.

West Roxbury resident Tim Clancy, who was arrested after locking himself to a gate at the site in August, paid tribute to Sophia Wilansky, who was arrested at another West Roxbury protest and who may lose an arm after an explosion t the Standing Rock site in North Dakota.

Residents at Spectra protest
Workers at Spectra protest
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Comments

So about 5 residents and 70 supporters right.

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You'll note I specifically quoted West Roxbury residents who spoke. Would've quoted more, but I didn't get all their names or didn't want to have repeating statements in the post - such as the guy whose son goes to the Kilmer (and who has two more kids due to enter the school next year) and the primary-care physician who has lived in West Roxbury for 20 years. And, of course, Mary Boyle, whom I'm sure you know because you obviously pay such close attention to protests in West Roxbury.

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The woman who may lose her arm didn't get injured because of an "explosion":a boorish cop threw some sort of grenade at her. It's a shame that the North Dakota protestors are being assaulted for free speech

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http://www.valleynewslive.com/content/news/Propane-cylinders-recovered-a...

Seems like the protestors were using one pound propane cylinders as a form of IED. There are pics and plenty of sites online that are carrying various aspects of the story. The protests are violent and the locals are getting hurt by it. The local Sioux asked them to leave. Unanimously:
http://www.kfyrtv.com/content/news/Standing-Rock-Sioux-Tribal-Council-vo...

Seems like your protestor was involved with some dangerous stuff. The ATF is investigating because the police apparently weren't armed with concussion grenades.

https://democracynow.org/2016/11/23/father_of_activist_injured_at_standing
Just to show you the truth, I'll quote from this site, "NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Mr. Wilansky, what about your response to the claims made by the Morton County Sheriff’s Department that they were not—that the police were not responsible for the concussion grenades?

WAYNE WILANSKY: Yeah, they’re ridiculous. Apparently, they’ve changed their story three times since the incident occurred. My daughter is very clear about the fact that she was being shot at the time. She’s got bullet wounds on her body. And she was backing away at the time, and she was trying to reach for a shield so that the bullets wouldn’t hit her at the time that the concussion grenade hit her in the arm and exploded. Witnesses that I’ve spoken to said that the police officers—it takes seven seconds for these concussion grenades to go off. And Instead of throwing them on the ground, they pulled the plug, held them for five seconds and threw them directly at her. So, I’d say that the comments from the Morton County Sheriff’s Department are utterly absurd and ridiculous and not worthy of a shred of belief.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And the doctors also found shrapnel in her wound?

WAYNE WILANSKY: Yes, her treating vascular surgeon told me after the surgery that he was—he pulled as much out as he thought he could, and the second day was to clean it out and make sure that they didn’t leave anything in there. They try to get as—you have to get all of the debris out; otherwise, you can’t—all the tissue will get infected, and the whole arm will die anyway. So, yes, he pulled all the shrapnel out. Apparently, it went to the pathology, so it’s in the hospital records."

Concussion grenades don't toss fragments. The FBI and ATF are investigating the source of the shrapnel. Girl's lucky to be alive.

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